The 5 o’clock club is published Wednesday to Saturday during the season, and aims to provide a forum for reader-driven discussion at a time of day when there isn’t much NFL news being published. Feel free to introduce topics that interest you in the comments below.

We’re four games into the Alex Smith era.

He’s had two good games, each pretty barren of 2nd half scoring, one bad game against the Colts, and one absolute stinker on Monday night in New Orleans.

This is not what the franchise was supposed to be getting in trade from Kansas City. The Redskins were supposed to get a quarterback who was the NFL’s leading passer in 2017, and who spent much of last season in the discussion for league MVP.

That’s why we wanted to get a veteran quarterback here that can adjust to different schemes and alert on the fly. We are not in here to build the team around him; the team is built and he has to lead it, like, right now.

“He’s the smartest person I’ve been around, without a doubt. He’ll get the most of his receivers and offensive line because they’re going to want to play for him and they’re going to feel confident that he’s going to make something happen in a positive...